Sunday, November 05, 2006
I'm done watching the preview show yesterday, with a programme booklet as a souvenir (the rest weren't really worth getting, IMO). It's really not too bad a show, considering it's their first effort at a broadway remake. Just a few points:
1) They changed Audrey II (the Monster Plant) into an alien orchid - on the set, the puppet looks exactly like a Paphiopedilum orchid, albeit with teeth. I'm not too happy about this, as you can expect, but as Yx pointed out, you really can't expect the majority of Singaporeans to know what flytraps or butterworts are. They would prefer orchids, naturally. (BTW, there are no carnivorous orchids)
2) The show was Singaporean-ised. Ah-lians, Ang Mo Kio, carpark-fine-maciks. Not that I really mind - some parts held good satire - but they seriously overplayed on the Auntyfied Singaporean Drawl. Got quite irritating after a while, especially when you hear the EXACT same nonsense on radio commercials as well. "Maaaery ah, why yuuu naever cuuuuum yesterdaeeee?" WTF.
3) The 4 puppets used as Audrey II were REALLY GOOD. I'd give the puppets a score of 9.5/10 - much nicer than what you see in other remakes, to be really honest. The blacklight techniques were good too, although they could do with a little more green and less purple.
4) Dim Sum Dollies - highly-amusing at certain parts (like popping out from behind the windows and doing a chorus), although they did occasionally go off-pitch.
In all seriousness, I rather enjoyed the musical. It seemed quite heavily-influenced by the local theatre culture - the set (visible "musician" in the scaffolding), script and general execution - but it could have been worse.
I'm starting to wonder about the repercussions of this musical arriving in a place like Singapore. At best, they'll enjoy the show, google at home and learn the truth about carnivorous plants and be all the wiser - but more likely, they'll continue being the prats that they are and go home with the idea that there ARE carnivorous orchids, or even worse-that CPs are large enough to eat humans.
Wenky
7:00 AM
0 comments
Post a Comment
